Go Listen Boise and Rediscovered Bookshop are proud to announce Rock to Read, a fundraising evening of music and spoken word, at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19, at The Linen Building, 1402 W. Grove St. in Downtown Boise’s Linen District. All ages, full bar (with I.D.).
The goal of Rock to Read is to raise enough money to purchase a set of 4-5 books from the list of Children’s Literature Award winners (The Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Young People’s Literature Award, amongst many others) for schools in the Boise Public School District. The reason? There was no funding for new library books made available for Idaho’s public schools for 2010 or 2011.
Idahoan musicians are lovers of books, and many of them are parents as well as published poets; some are teachers, and some are even librarians, so it seemed a good idea to put their talents to work and raise some money for our Boise public school libraries.
Headlining the evening is Exene Cervenka — a mother, a singer, an artist, an activist, a songwriter, and a very happy, hard-working gal, who spent several years living in Sandpoint, Idaho, and is a former teacher/librarian.
If you don’t know Exene Cervenka’s work in X, The Knitters, Auntie Christ, The Original Sinners, and her other solo projects in the spoken word and Americana genres, please visit your friendly neighborhood independent record store and ask the smart people who run the shop. They are the libraries of the music world, and a great resource.
Exene’s last solo recording, Somewhere Gone, was released by Bloodshot Records in October 2009. Before performing songs from that record, as well as new songs from her forthcoming record, The Excitement of Maybe, she will be speaking and reading from her journals.
Joy Steiner, local author and storyteller, will perform, and musical support will come from a varied mix of Boise’s more well-known bands as well as the up and coming teenage band, Workin’ On Fire, which won the Drake Cooper award at this years Curb Cup.
Boise band New Transit, have written songs specifically for this event based on frontman Sean Hatton’s favorite childrens books, The Giving Tree and Goodnight Moon. Jonathan Warren (of Jonathan Warren & The Billygoats), who is a published poet as well as a musician, will be doing a mix of spoken word and music; Lisa Simpson, member of indie-rock band Finn Riggins (Lisa also used to work as a librarian), will perform a solo set.
Other artists schedule to perform include Boise Rock School, Field Guide and a.k.a. Belle. Sen. Nicole LeFavour will make an appearance. The fundraiser will be hosted by 94.9 FM The River‘s Tim Johnstone.
For you Boise State football fans, the Broncos-Fresno State game will be broadcast on the Linen Building mezzanine!
Items being donated for the silent auction include signed CDs, books, t-shirts, and artwork from local and internationally known artists/actors/musicians; The Record Exchange, Red Feather Lounge/Bittercreek Ale House, Flying M Coffee, Bricolage, The Modern Hotel, Vinyl Preservation Society of Idaho, The Linen Building, and many other local Treasure Valley businesses are contributing towards this event.
For more information, contact:
Catherine Merrick: cathcactus[at]hotmail.com
Stephanie Coyle: stephanie.coyle[at]gmail.com
Ali Ward: wardali[at]msn.com
Laura DeLaney: laura[at]rdbooks.net